January 14, 2014 ~ Lucas' Helicopter Ride!

January 14, 2014 ~ Lucas' Helicopter Ride!

I wasn't on the Helicopter ride unfortunately and so Lucas will write this post.

As a concierge, I have a lot of perks. One of those perks is you get to try out all the tours you want, so that you can properly sell them to guests. I was able to take the grand canyon helicopter ride to the West Rim. It was the first time I have ever been in a helicopter and it was a blast. It was me, Divina Villavicencia and Serena Garrett. We had a great time! I only knew them 2 and the other 4 people were strangers. We got to wear these headphones in the helicopter that allowed us to talk to each other. The only catch was, if I say something, EVERYONE can hear it. You can’t pick and choose who you want to hear you.

The first part of the trip I was in the back. We flew over the Hoover Dam and headed over to the West Rim Grand Canyon. It was about a 45 minute flight just to get there.

We landed at the bottom of the canyon and spent about 30 minutes there. We had a light snack and some drinks. It was really calm and peaceful there at the bottom and very enjoyable. Most of the people hung around each other talking, eating and drinking, but I was able to kind of hike down like 5 minutes and just enjoy being at the bottom. It was a very calm and serene experience. It is so nice to just sit and enjoy nature sometimes. Plus, it isn’t everyday that you get to be at the bottom of one of the 7 wonders of the world. Granted, I have been to the grand canyon like 50 times because of my Japanese tour job, but this was the first time being at the bottom of the canyon. Although it was nice being at the bottom, the South rim is hands down the best place to visit the Grand Canyon. It is so much larger and grander than the West rim.

On the way back to Vegas, I was able to sit up in the front. That was a blast! Taking off is the best because helicopters tip their nose down as the accelerate up into the air. As we were flying, I asked the pilot to nose dive because I heard that is really fun to experience. Obviously, it would be a controlled nose drive but as soon I said that, everyone started freaking out. (remember, everyone hears what you say). They got way extremely nervous and everyone was saying No! Don’t do it!- the pilot said, for safety, we cant do that. Pretty lame if you ask me.

As we were getting close to Vegas, we did a mini strip helicopter tour over Vegas. It was nice, flying in air, right next to all of the hotels. I really enjoyed that part.

Overall, it was a great time and once in a life-time experience. The best part, this $540 per person tour, was FREE!